In fighting talk, reminiscent of Maggie Thatcher's last days in office, Gordon Brown flung himself into a series of media appearances yesterday keen to deliver the message that he can turn the economy around.
Brown claimed that he is the best person to lead Britain through a worsening economic slowdown.
He told the BBC:
"The right thing to do is continue to do the job I'm doing.
We've got to steer the economy through these difficult times. I've done it before and I'm going to do it again."
Fine words, except they ignore a few uncomfortable home truths:
1 Brown inherited a well run and financially stable economy from the Tories in 1997.
2 World wide economic conditions have, until recently, been relatively benign.
3 There is little that Brown can do about oil and food price shocks.
4 Northern Rock happened on his watch.
5 The 10P tax debacle was entirely of his own making.
6 His tripartite system for City governance is not fit for purpose.
7 His tax policies will drive the wealth creators away from Britain.
8 Capitalist consumer economies rely on confidence to keep running, no one has much confidence in Brown.
9 Brown has spent in years of surplus, and has nothing left in the kitty to help out in years of want.
In short, he is not the man for the job.
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